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[TD]Pokémon General v10
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Nostalgia(Claiming generation one is the best, type of nostalgia) will be laughed at.

Pokémon is a series of video games primarily for Nintendo handheld game systems, as well as the overarching franchise based on these games. Though many things differ depending on a specific canon's interpretation of the series, what remains constant is the focus on creatures known as Pokémon, which can be captured, trained, and used to compete against one another in battle or, more recently, other activities.

Finish the game and dont know what to do? Thats because most people overlook competitive play for Pokémon. Plus its really fun.

Competitive play requires knowledge of what Pokémon might be paired up on a team, what moves they might have, and how you can use your Pokemon to win.

Tiers

Most of the competitive community follows the Smogon tiers and clauses or the Pokemon Online tiers. Note: What Pokemon go in what tiers is determined by usage, not just power(for smogon at least, I dont know how PO dictates theirs.)

UBER- Ubers are Pokémon that are considered too powerful for the OU metagame. The Uber tier is not meant to be a balanced tier, and therefore isn't the main metagame. Every Pokémon is allowed in this tier.

OU/Overused- OverUsed is the main metagame and used for most competitive battles and tournaments. It is the balanced tier that bans as few Pokémon as possible. However, placement in OU is based on usage rather than power, because power is difficult to gauge objectively. A Pokémon is OU if it shows up in 1 out of every 20 teams in the standard metagame.

BL/Borderline- Borderline is a non-competitive tier that has a function similar to that of Ubers. It is to include Pokémon that aren't used sufficiently to be considered OU, but are too powerful to be used in UU.

UU/Underused- UnderUsed is a lower competitive metagame than OU and is generally composed of Pokémon that aren't powerful enough to compete in OU. It is also based on usage.

NU/Neverused- NeverUsed is the lowest tier in the system and denoted Pokémon that are extremely weak. It is based on usage and doesn't exist in RBY or GSC, due to there not being enough Pokémon.

NFE/Not Fully Evolved- Pokemon that are not fully evolved.Limbo- Limbo serves as a place where Pokémon that do not yet have a decided tier are put.

OU is the most common tier

Clauses

Small, individual sets of rules that can be selected by the trainers before the battle. Basicaly removes bullshit and adds balance.

Evasion Clause*
Moves that boost evasion (i.e. Double Team and Minimize) are not allowed. (Accupuncture is allowed)

Freeze Clause
Two or more Pokémon on a team cannot be frozen at the same time.

Sleep Clause*
Two or more Pokémon on a team cannot be asleep at the same time. Self-induce sleep via rest does not activate Sleep Clause.

OHKO Clause*
One-Hit KO moves are not allowed.

Species Clause*
Two or more of the same Pokémon may not be used on the same team.

Self KO Clause
If both players have only one Pokémon left, moves which KO both the user and the opponent are not allowed (e.g. Explosion, Destiny Bond). If recoil damage would cause a tie, Self KO Clause does not activate, and the player who last attacked is the winner.

Item Clause
All Pokémon on a team must hold different items. This is not a standard clause in competitive play, but it is used in Nintendo tournaments.

* Indicates Standard Clause

Stat Mechanics This section is pure copy-pasta.

These are mechanics that affect the statistics of a Pokémon, and thus affect its ability to give, take, and avoid damage.

Natures

Every Pokémon can have 1 out of 25 different natures. Most natures will raise one stat by 10% and lower another stat by 10%. In competitive battling, every Pokémon has one or two preferred natures depending on the moveset they are using. For example, a Pokémon meant to use only physical attacks would most likely benefit from an Adamant nature, which raises Attack by 10% and lowers Special Attack by 10%.

There are 5 Natures out there which do not have an effect on any stat. They are Hardy, Serious, Bashful, Quirky, and Docile. These natures should not be used in a competitive setting since they provide no beneficial stat boosts to the Pokémon.

EVs are "invisible" numbers that can increase a Pokémon's stats. Every 4 EVs in a particular stat is equal to 1 point in that stat. Every Pokémon is capable of having a maximum of 510 EVs with a maximum of 255 EVs in any one stat. Note that neither 510 nor 255 are numbers that are divisible by 4. This means you only need 508 EVs total (252 EVs in any one stat) to have a completely EV-trained Pokémon. The remaining 2 EVs are useless.

For more information on EV's and how to EV train Pokémon in the cartridge games, See Here.

Individual Values (IVs)

Two untrained Pokémon of the same species with the same level and nature may still have slightly different stats. The reason behind this is that the two Pokémon have different IVs. IVs are "invisible" numbers that range from 0 to 31 and tell you the quality of a Pokémon's stats. 0 means that particular Pokémon's stat is the lowest it can be. 31 means that stat is at its best and is considered a perfect IV.

Unlike EVs, IVs cannot be changed and are permanent when you obtain the Pokémon. There is no guaranteed way of obtaining the exact IVs you want. The best way to get a Pokémon with good IVs is by breeding. More information on IV breeding can be found in the Breeding Guide.

Competitive Pokémon battling is based on the assumption that all players have perfect Pokémon. Much like professional athletes have near limitless access to state-of-the-art sports equipment, competitive Pokémon strategy assumes you have access to perfect Pokémon. This is often a difficult concept for players of the cartridge games to understand. But, it is essential to forget about that "awesome level 78 Charizard" you used to beat the Elite Four in FireRed. In competitive Pokémon, all players use level 100 Pokémon exclusively, they use only the most powerful species of Pokémon, AND the Pokémon are perfectly EV trained with perfect IVs, with perfect moves.

You may wonder, "How it is possible to get completely perfect Pokémon for competitive play?" In most cases, it is only possible to obtain perfect Pokémon through the use of a Battle Simulator - which is a program built for the express purpose of allowing competitive players to quickly and easily assemble entire teams of perfect Pokémon, and then battle against others. It's also possible to acquire perfect Pokémon through trading networks of competitive breeders, and thus use perfect Pokémon and competitive strategies in wifi battles and real-life tournaments.

Pokemon Online

Pokemon Online is a battle simulator. It has all the mechanics the games have except the irritating grind that IVs and EVs are. Its absolutely great if you want to get some battles in or test a team.

It's very simple to create a team. You open the teambuilder, pick your Pokemon, moves, items, nature, etc and save it on your hard drive. After that its just joining a server and participating by challenging friends or doing random battles. You will however need to set your tier at the top.

Also Bionic, most of the newer games can be played on the old DS, including Black and White. However, if you are talking about the Pokerumble (or whatever it's called) sequel, then I guess you are out of luck.

Also Bionic, most of the newer games can be played on the old DS, including Black and White. However, if you are talking about the Pokerumble (or whatever it's called) sequel, then I guess you are out of luck.

I haven't played a Pokemon game since RBY because my gameboy was stolen from me at school in the 6th grade. (sad panda I was)